Brothers in Arms
by H.J. Bender
Summary: There will come a time when the Ronin Warriors, missions completed, will part forever. This is the story of that parting. Set to Dire Straits' "Brothers in Arms".


This was the part of the day he liked best. The cool, dark hours when all the world was still sleeping and the first rosy signs of the sun were beginning to taint the midnight sky a velvet purple hue. He breathed slowly and deeply, closing his eyes and taking in the tranquility and fresh air and sighing it out in a quickly-fading fog. The birds were beginning to stir and dapple the air of the surrounding forest with their cheerful melodies as the crickets and frogs slowly sank back into the disappearing night. Dew dripped from the leaves of trees and hung in heavy, thick drops on the grass. It had rained last night, and everything was rinsed fresh and made anew.

He gazed over the tops of the trees at the silent, dark outline of the mountains and the blanket of mist that seemed to forever hang about them like a breathy halo. The sky was turning pink just behind them, the silver lining of the clouds glowing and the lake in the distance shimmering with a dense layer of fog hanging just above the placid, glass surface. The lake itself was a mirror, reflecting the clouds, the trees, the mountains and their mist, everything and making it seem so wide open and free.

Ryo stretched his arms above his head and stood on his tiptoes with a pleased yawn. Yep. This was definitely the best part of the day.

_These mist covered mountains are a home now for me . . .__  
_  
"What are _you_ doing out here so early?"

The voice took Ryo by surprise, and he turned to see Sage leaning against the rail of the deck with a mug of steaming tea in his hand and a still sleep-puckered face. His blond hair's gravity-defying stunt was apparently taking the day off for it fell in an almost straight dive to his shoulders.

Ryo grinned. "I like coming out here just before the sun rises. Tranquil, y'know."

"Huh." Sage nodded once and sipped his tea. "Well, before you get too attached, keep in mind that we're just _visiting_ Mia."

Ryo pouted to himself. "Yeah, I know. It must be hard teaching full-time now. After this it's back to Toyama and all that stress and crowds and noise . . ."

"Home sweet home," Sage muttered sarcastically.

Ryo gazed out at the picturesque sunrise and knew that in his heart Sage was right. His place was with the people. His job was to protect the people. As much as he liked, nay, _loved_ the beauty of nature and longed to just run away into its wilderness to live out the rest of his days, he knew he could never turn his back on the world so easily. He hadn't before; he wouldn't now.

_But my home is the lowlands and always will be.  
_

"Sorry," Sage said. "I didn't mean to sour the moment."

"Ahh." Ryo waved it off. "Don't worry 'bout it."

"Well, enjoy your sunrise. I'm going back inside." And Sage turned and stepped through the French doors.

"I will," Ryo whispered. _Live each day like it's your last, for it very well may be._

The sun peered over the peaks of the mountain tops and bathed the world in brilliant light. It warmed the skin on Ryo's face and he sighed longingly. _If today I die, I wouldn't have wanted to go before seeing this._

o-o-o

Ryo walked into the kitchen to find it bustling with activity and the smells of breakfast. Kento was pulling a valiant begging act for Cye to make blueberry pancakes and becoming rather angry when Cye refused. Mia was trying her hardest to have a normal morning and fix everyone else's breakfasts at the same time, finally giving up with a final thought that they were full grown boys now and if they could save the world, they could fix their own meals. She sat down at the table with her coffee, a muffin and a newspaper, trying to tune out Cye and Kento's arguing.

"If you want pancakes you can bloody make them yourself."

"But I don't make 'em as good as you. Please? Aw, c'mon Cyeeee," Kento whined. "Two. Just two pancakes. For me, huh?"

Cye tsked. "Go through all that trouble just for two crummy pancakes? You're daft, Kento."

Rowen was sitting at the table looking like a dead man propped upright with a bowl of corn flakes in front of him. Ryo came in and sat down next to him, offering up a cheerful smile.

"Mornin', Rowen."

Thirty seconds later Rowen turned his head and using all his strength, uttered, "Nh?"

"Look alive, Ro. It's a beautiful day as Bono says."

Rowen didn't know what a Bono was (or a day for that matter) at this early an hour and turned his attention back to his rapidly-sogging corn flakes. Sage walked into the room and sat in the empty chair next to Ryo, grumbling, "I hate my hair. It's not cooperating with me."

"Looks fine to me."

"Only because you're not the one wearing it."

Ryo smiled and watched Sage grab a nearby box of Froot Loops and look inside. The blond frowned and gazed about the kitchen with a look that would kill. "Who took the toy? That was the whole reason I asked Mia to buy the Froot Loops."

"What is it?" Cye inquired.

"A Toucan Sam keychain. Someone had better fess up soon or so help me, I'll call my armor and-"

Mia interrupted, "No violence in my house, Sage."

Kento smirked. "You mean _this_?" He dangled the colorful keychain from his finger and Sage snarled.

"THAT'S MINE! GIVE IT BACK!"

"I don't see your name on it."

Sage jumped out of his chair and Kento took flight around the kitchen table, screeching hysterically. Ryo tried not to laugh as he watched Sage finally catch up and attempt to wrestle the keychain from the — much larger and heavier — young man. Mia set down her newspaper and gave them a warning before elevating to shouts when they ignored her. The two sparring warriors jarred Cye, causing him to stumble into the counter top and bang some valuable equipment he kept in his pants. Cye joined the fray and Mia threw her hands heavenward, slouching down in her chair. Rowen was shoveling dripping spoonfuls of soggy cornflakes into his mouth slowly and Ryo watched them all with a grin on his face. Would they ever cease to make him smile? These moments when they were all together, laughing and joking and fighting with each other, _those_ were the times when Ryo felt most content, like nothing in the world could go wrong so long as they were together, they, the undefeated Ronin Warriors.

A thought graced itself across Ryo's mind like a wind and the smile slowly faded away as he watched his friends. This was their last day visiting Mia before they would — individually — return to their separate lives. Though they wouldn't be far apart, certainly not galaxies away, Ryo could feel the distance growing between them already. A creeping emptiness, sad and reluctant, began to drift into his body and settle into his chest. He gulped down the knot that had formed in his throat and blinked rapidly.

_Some day you'll return to your valleys and your farms . . .  
_

_Our days as warriors are numbered, guys. Can you sense it? This peace we're living in now, this almost perfect happiness that we fought so hard to reach, now that it's here and the world is safe again... what's to become of us? Will your hearts still pound every time you hear thunder? Will your spirits still rise when you hear the call to arms? So what happens now? Do we fade into obscurity? Is our time basking in this glory already up? Is this the day we lay down the sword and pick up our lives? Or have you already done that?_

_And you'll no longer burn to be brothers in arms._

o-o-o

The city of Toyama, reduced to a battlefield, devastated and desolate. Ryo remembered. The volcano, the heart of living fire where he found his greatest strength. Ryo remembered. Was it just his imagination, or were the memories suddenly harder to call upon? The nightmares that had haunted him for many weary nights after the war . . . were they finally disappearing? And if he lost the nightmares, would he lose the memories too? Sometimes he awoke in the middle of the night with a gasp, drenched in sweat, only to realize that _this_ was reality, not the awful place where valiant warriors died senselessly and then were forgotten. It was all a bad dream, but the only comforting thought was that at least he could wake from it. He dealt with this unrest every day of his life.

_Through these fields of destruction, baptisms of fire . . .  
_

Ryo fell to his knees before the massive ruler of the Dynasty and sobbed like a child. His friends were taken from him and now suffering inside of Talpa because of his weakness, his fault, his inability to do the right thing. Why couldn't he do it? Was he too weak, too stupid, too young? His friends, the only real friends he had ever had in his life, were in a place worse than any Hell. Why should he sacrifice their lives for the world, a world who cared nothing about him and would never know his name? He loved the world, but he loved his friends more.

_I've witnessed your suffering as the battles raged higher._

It was a memory that would come back to haunt him for years, that horrible feeling that was enough to make him want to plunge his own katana through his heart and get it over with. He did the only thing he _could_ do; he gave in and let Talpa take him over.

It hurt. He knew he was a traitor but if he could stay with his friends forever . . . they would probably hate him for doing this. He was always so selfless. Now, when that trait mattered most, he gave it up in favor for himself. A final, selfish, desperate act that came right before a horrible death. He acknowledged both.

_And though they did hurt me so bad in the fear and alarm . . .  
_

But even then, they did not turn on him with hatred and loathing. They gave all their encouragement, their spirit and their longing to live, to _him_. That act in itself powered him with more energy than he had ever felt in his life, and it flowed through every cell in his body like electricity. _They didn't leave me. They still love me. We're still together and we're still warriors._

And he did not let himself go down, no. Not like this. They would not all be defeated. And this time he got back up and fought, not for himself, but for the souls and lives hanging in the balance, the souls of his friends.

And he was victorious.

_You did not desert me, my brothers in arms._

o-o-o

"Ksshhh. Earth to Ryo 13, this is Houston. Ksshhhh. Come in, Ryo 13. We have a failure to communicate, over."

Ryo snapped from his reverie to find Kento peering at him with a grin on his face and chuckling. Sage was sitting across the kitchen table from Ryo, shaking his head at him. "Tsk, tsk," the blond clucked. "About time you woke up. You're as bad as my grandfather, falling asleep at the table."

Ryo smiled nervously and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry. I was just thinking."

Rowen, now more awake (must have been one long-ass flashback), spoke up. "Hey, thinking is _my_ job. You lead, I read."

"What about me?" Kento prodded.

"You feed."

"And let me guess, Cye sneeds?"

"That's not a word," Cye said, turning to his best friend.

"Sure it is. It's a Kento word."

"_Sneed_? Can I get a definition for that?"

"Sure. It's the act of sneeing, which is something that only British chefs who like fishies and listening to Billy Idol do-"

"I don't listen to Billy Idol-"

"Yuh HUH you do. I heard you singing _Dancing With Myself_ when you were doing the laundry-"

"Oh. So now you're _stalking_ me, eh?"

"GUYS!" Rowen brought his fist down on the table. "I. Have. A headache this mornin'. Control yaselves."

"Take two aspirin and call me sexy," Sage snickered and Rowen cast him a foul glance. "Are we going to leave soon? The day is wasting away."

"Sage, it's only 7:30 in the morning. We've got plenty of time, I assure you," Mia said.

The blond rolled his eyes and sighed. "You know, sloth is one of the seven deadly sins."

"So is rage," Mia retorted with a smirk. Sage was quiet thereafter.

o-o-o

"I'm going to die."

"Come on, Cye. It's just a little bit further."

"I'm going to die right here in this nice little patch of flowers."

"It's only a quarter of a mile till we reach the summit-"

"I don't care if it's a quarter of a meter, Ryo. I have a nice little spot picked out to die all over and if you want me to get to the top of this mountain, you and Kento can just drag my carcass there-"

"Take five, guys!" Ryo called over his shoulder to the others up ahead on the trail. The scenic hike through the small mountain range of Diasetsuzan National Park were proving to be too much for Cye, who voiced that he would rather they left him at the small recreation center where at least he could enjoy playing solitary ping pong or the Pachinko machines. Dry land was definitely not cut out for him; he was like a fish out of water.

Rowen, Kento, Sage and Mia stopped and sighed impatiently, listening to Cye bicker with Ryo a few paces down the trail. Finally, Kento marched toward them and snapped, "I know how to fix this problem-" He grabbed Cye by the arm and dragged him onto his back, secured his legs and hefted the nagging burden up the trail. Cye didn't even get a chance to get a word in.

"Well!" he exclaimed. "A Kento taxi service, eh? Very nice."

Ryo laughed and Kento growled good-naturedly. "I swear, the things I do to shut you up sometimes . . ."

"What? I thought you liked my accent."

"Not when you're nagging," Kento replied. "You get goin' and then your voice pitches up a few octaves and you get that grating, nails-on-a-blackboard effect and then you get louder until you're shrieking like a fire alarm-"

"Like this?" And Cye let out a verbal storm of ear-piercing British slang that nobody understood until Kento 'accidentally' walked under a low-hanging branch that knocked both Cye in the forehead and some sense into him.

"What was I blathering about?"

"What?" Kento asked. "I can't hear you for some reason Cye, so it won't do any good talking to me, thanks."

Mia laughed and shook her head. Maybe now they could enjoy the hike.

o-o-o

"We're here! We're at the top!" Ryo proclaimed.

Kento collapsed on his knees, panting like a tired dog. Cye had fallen asleep on his back but was quite awake after falling backwards onto the gravel. "Ohhhh, blimey," he murmured sleepily. "What time is it, mum?"

"It's lunch time!" Mia said happily.

"Good, I'm starvin'!" Rowen shouted, diving into the knapsack containing the picnic food. Sage slapped Rowen's hands away daintily. "Don't tear into it yet, Greedy Smurf. You'll leave nothing for the rest of us."

Rowen picked a mock fight with Sage for calling him a Smurf while Ryo helped Mia unpack the picnic stuff. They all had a big appetite worked up from their climb and also had a very nice view of the mountains from their altitude. Cye had decided to bless everyone with his natural talent for British cuisine by making two thirds of the picnic menu. Some of the items included tea sandwiches such as watercress, cucumber and egg. Kento remarked after staring at the tiny sandwiches that it was no wonder Cye kept his slim figure. And of course there were the home-made crumpets with a variety of spreads and the vanilla biscuits and scones that everyone devoured and Mia begged the recipe for.

After the picnic everyone sat around and sipped tea and took in the sights. The sun climbed high in the cloudless blue sky and everything in the world seemed perfect, right and in its place. And the sun would set, the moon would rise and set, and tomorrow the sun would rise again. Nothing would interrupt that beautiful, miraculous cycle. Ryo wondered what the first man thought when he looked at the sun. Probably 'ouch, sun hurt Og's eyes' or something. He chuckled.

_There's so many different worlds, so many different suns . . .  
_

Ryo breathed in the fresh breeze and sighed. His happiness and content could not be described with words. He only wished he had a bottle or something he could put this happiness in and save it for a day of the blues. A little piece of personal sunshine. A personal little world, all his own.

Ryo slowly glanced over at the others, enjoying the peace and bliss. Everyone was daydreaming of their own little worlds, he could see it in their eyes. As whimsical and as folly as it sounded, they were entitled to dream just like everybody else. They were still young. They hadn't lost their sense of imagination and wonder for the world around them and the perfect ones they entertained in their minds. He wondered how each of his friends' worlds looked.

_We're present in one world but live in another._

_And we have just one world, but we live in different ones._

They meandered for a short while then hiked back down, enjoyed a few leisure activities and then headed for home when the sun began to set. It had been a fun-filled day, but the heavy oppression hanging in the air reminded them all that it was to be their last. As a team, anyway. It was like the Sunday before school; you knew that you had only a few hours left of freedom to do what you wanted before you had to go back to the grindstone. And those last few hours always flew by, wasted themselves intentionally it seemed, just to depress you further. Such was the atmosphere between the five companions as Mia dropped them off at a small rest stop not far from the mountains, as it was a good place where all five could part their paths without the hassle of extra traveling. She hugged them all, wished them the best of luck and drove away, trying to conceal the tears in her eyes. She would miss them. It was like the family she never had but always wanted, a noisy house filled with five rowdy and sometimes irritating boys that she had grown to love like they were her own siblings. One big, happy, dysfunctional family. Well . . . at least happy.

When Mia's jeep had disappeared from view and the boys had stopped waving their goodbyes, Ryo said to the empty air, "It's gonna be a nice moonrise tonight." _Care to watch it with me one last time, fellahs?_

Nobody moved, but the small group of friends stood and stared at the brilliant orange sunset. The last dying flames that were so profoundly beautiful and at the same time inspired a deep and aching sadness. No one said a word the entire time.

Soon the sun had sunk below the horizon into the dark depths of the underworld and the moon was beginning its routine ascent into the deep blue heavens. The five young men watched it climb slowly, a glowing sphere of ivory set in a satin backdrop. Ryo knew it would take every ounce of his determination not to cry. He was too old to be crying now. He had grown up, eighteen and a man now, and grown men didn't cry.

_Then I guess I never grew up._

_Now the sun's gone to hell and the moon's riding high . . .  
_

Ryo turned to his four friends with a false happy smile and tried to say as hopefully as he could, "Well, guys. I guess this is it."

As soon as he spoke those words he regretted it. He hadn't said anything like that since he was about to lose his life and give up the world in one swift act. The others knew that too, and Cye made a small sound in his throat, staring at his shoes. "Guess you're right."

"Uh . . ." Rowen fumbled. "Where's everyone headin'?"

Kento mumbled, "I'm going to stay with my uncle over in the States. Might do some school there." _Yeah. Starting out in a new place with no friends . . . Sounds like a blast, doesn't it?_

"I'm going to train to take over my family's dojo," Sage said softly. "Maybe you guys will hear of the great kendo master Date Seiji one of these days." _Or hear about his failures, or never hear of him at all . . .  
_

They all smiled lightheartedly and Cye muttered, "I'm going back to England. My mum's been worrying about me being so far from home, and I know her health is failing. Perhaps I'll stay there." _And that means never coming back . . . This might very well be the last time you all ever see me again._

"I'm, ah, goin' to grad school," Rowen said. "Follow in my dad's footsteps I suppose. Maybe become a famous astronomer or somethin'." _Famous, yeah. Right. Just another geek staring at the sky and trying to explain it._

"Hey, name a galaxy after me, wouldja?" Kento joked and they all laughed.

"I'll name stars afta all 'a ya if I can." _At least that way we'll live on forever._

"Where are _you_ going, Ryo?" Cye asked softly of their silent leader.

The dark-haired young man looked up, blue eyes shining with tears as he smiled. "I'll be staying here. Missing you guys every single day."

Kento twisted and contorted his face into a frown to keep from crying and muttered, "God, Ryo. Don't pull this shit now-"

Ryo darted forward and pulled him into a fierce hug. That did it for Kento, who now found himself with tears rolling down his cheeks as his friend squeezed him hard.

"I'm gonna miss you. I'm g-gonna miss you all s-so much," Ryo stammered through his trembling voice and pulled away, turning and gazing at his four friends, four companions, four brothers.

"Ryo, we're not dying," Sage said gently, attempting to lighten the situation.

_Maybe not, but you might as well be._ Ryo nodded despite his thoughts and tried to look like Sage's words had really made any difference at all.

"Yeah, cheer up a little," Rowen offered. "We can all keep in touch."

Ryo met Rowen's eyes and he seemed to say, It won't be the same and you know it, Ro.

"Jeez, Ryo. Stop with that lost puppy look before ya break somebody's heart," the azure-haired lad smiled. Nobody smiled with him and he let his expression fall.

"_My_ heart's breaking," came an almost inaudible English accent. "And we haven't even said our goodbyes yet."

Wordlessly they drew together, all five of them in a tight, brotherly embrace. A living human knot. A tie that went deeper than just flesh, and touched within each a place reserved only for something deeper than the relation found between lovers or even those bound together by blood. It was an awe-inspiring camaraderie that could never be explained or described, and when the five young men finally let their death grip on each other loosen, it left behind a feeling of which could also never be explained or described.

_Let me bid you farewell, every man has to die . . .  
_

Ryo kept his chin up and took a deep breath. "Sayonara, Ronin Warriors."

"Sayonara, Ryo."

One last glance swept between them all and then they each turned, walking off in separate directions. Ryo stood firmly and watched them slowly disappear into the night. Until they were out of view.

_But it's written in the starlight and every line on your palm . . .  
_

He turned around and looked up at the night sky, the brilliant river of sparkling jewels strewn across a black canvas. It suddenly seemed more beautiful to Ryo than anything he had ever seen before in his life. There was no need to cry now. He had already shed his tears; now it was time to begin his life where it had left off. As he stuck his hands in his pockets and turned to leave, he gazed in the directions of his departed friends and smiled.

_You did not desert me, my brothers in arms._


End file.
